Paugussetts Get Backing From Casino Company

Casino Developer Bankrolling Fight For Paugussetts

Behind the moral and legal claims to land by the Golden Hill Paugussetts, who say they are fighting for no less than cultural preservation, is the promise of great wealth through legalized gambling.

An out-of-state company, which hopes to develop a casino on land claimed by the Paugussetts in Bridgeport, has underwritten their fight for federal recognition and the recovery of their ancestral lands.

In fact, their renewed efforts to obtain federal recognition as a tribe coincided with a contract they signed with Native American Game Productions of Knoxville, Tenn., to develop a gambling resort.

The contract was announced in April, the same month the Paugussetts submitted extensive documentation to support a request for federal recognition, said Carl Shaw of the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Aurelius H. Piper Jr., also known as Chief Quiet Hawk, the council chief of the Golden Hill Paugussetts, said he realizes that the gambling issue has made many residents of southwestern Connecticut suspicious of their motives.

"The Indian gaming act came along in 1988. That's not our fault," Piper said of the federal legislation that has spelled out the conditions under which federally recognized tribes can run gaming operations.

Piper said that the Paugussetts were interested in federal recognition, which brings a variety of benefits, long before the gaming act or the success of the neighboring Mashantucket Pequots' casino in Ledyard.

Records at the Bureau of Indian Affairs show that the Paugussetts first explored federal recognition in 1982, when Piper's father, Chief Big Eagle, wrote to the federal agency.

But the Paugussetts did little to advance their application until this year, after the prospect of gambling helped attract money from Native American Game Productions and its parent, Impression Delivery Corp. of Minneapolis.

Piper declined to say how much money he has received.

"Quite a substantial amount of cash was provided," said Tom de Petra, a publicist for Impression Delivery Corp. "It is close to a half-million" dollars.

Piper's lawyers also, in effect, have invested in the Paugussetts.

He said most are working on contingency, meaning they are providing services in return for a percentage of any settlement the Indians might win in their suits against the state and private landowners.

The prospects of Native American Game Productions seem closely intertwined with the Indians. It is a start-up company, whose creation coincides with the relationship it established with the Paugussetts, said Russell Hollingsworth, a company spokesman.

The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Impression Delivery, a relatively new holding company with investments in biotechnology, the food industry and advertising.

Native American Game Productions says it has contracts with two Indian groups, the Paugussetts and the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians of Cherokee, N.C., to construct and manage casinos on Indian land.

In June, the company announced it plans to raise more than $30 million with a public stock offering of 4.8 million shares at a "contemplated public offering price of $6.75."

The plans seem optimistic, given that its publicist says that its stock trades in the range of $2.75 to $3.50 a share. That could not be independently verified, since the stock is not listed on any public exchange.

The company said its stock offering would be "contingent upon one of [the] tribes entering into a state compact allowing the conduct of casino gaming activities."

Such a compact might never happen.

Neither the Golden Hill Paugussetts nor Eastern Band Cherokees have federal recognition, which is needed before they can negotiate a state compact to establish a casino under the terms of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs could take years to consider their petitions for recognition -- and ultimately reject them.

Hollingsworth, a former gospel singer and songwriter, said that Native American Game Productions realizes that its investment in the Golden Hill Paugussetts might produce no return.

Its plan is to assist Piper with money and advice as he pushes for recognition and to recover land, he said.

"Our management contract stipulated that certain dollars be funneled to the chief right away. He definitely needs money," Hollingsworth said.

Recognizing that the claims on land in Bridgeport, Trumbull, Orange, Monroe, Seymour, Shelton and Stratford have infuriated property owners, Hollingsworth said he hopes to also assist in a public relations campaign to explain how an Indian gambling resort in Bridgeport can help the local economy.

"The chief hasn't the resources or the staff to go out and educate the community. We're hopeful that Trumbull and other communities will say, `Hey, let's get behind Chief Quiet Hawk.' Everybody can win in this deal," he said.

Allan van Gestel of Boston, a lawyer who defends against Indian land claims, said he believes that the Paugussett case was inspired

by the prospect of gambling.

"At the same time you can't blame them," he said. "If the law provides an opportunity to make a whole lot of money, and if what was involved was anything other than an Indian tribe, people would say, `Right on, that's the American way.'